New Lifetime, New Me
by gonnahaveagreatday
Summary: Elena wakes up after sixty years, to find everything has changed, including the fact that Bonnie was marked for death upon her slumber ending. Enzo and Bonnie teach their son how to be a Bennett.
1. It's a Beautiful Mornin'

**As I learned how Bonnie and Enzo actually came together, I'm changing that. And Caroline is not going to have the twins, two more characters are too complicated and confusing to deal with.**

* * *

The first thing she saw was the ceiling. Geez, it was funny how long she hadn't seen a ceiling. She always used to wake up to them. This was smooth and light brown. Beautiful. As she blinked, she smiled again, placing her hands over her eyes to feel her eyelashes move.

She was awake. She was finally, awake. She sat up and giggled happily, looking around her. She was still in her coffin; Damon probably thought it was the safest thing for her, but the scenery had changed. This wasn't the crypt they'd sealed her in. She looked to her right and saw Damon's eyes immediately.

"Hey." She said in a raspy voice. Damon smirked so wide he flashed her his adorable smile.

"Hey there." He replied in a normal, husky voice. Why was he sitting so far away? She reached for him as best as she could without tipping the damn coffin over and he reached for her, getting out of his chair, practically knocking it over and they shared their first kiss, in sixty years. Elena was awake. She was finally awake. Damon pulled away from her mouth and kept smiling at her as she gripped him.

"I couldn't have hoped for a better reunion." Caroline said, coming out from behind a door that was open.

"Care!" Elena cried, noticing now that her voice was raspy and touching her throat. Damon smirked at her teasingly and Caroline came in to hug her, gripping her tight.

"Ow, Care, no more vampire strength." Elena wheezed and Caroline pulled away quickly, looking in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry, are you hurt? Did I puncture something?" She asked worriedly, looking Elena over.

"I'm fine, Care." Elena laughed, loving how the laugh felt in her throat. "Your vampire strength just got stronger over the last few decades."

"I promise to work on the hugs." Caroline said.

"You don't have to; I'll get stronger." Elena replied. Damon took his fiancé in and noticed how much Elena had changed over the last six decades, give or take. She was being nicer to Caroline, that was new. But then Care-bear had changed into someone he actually respected. That and being with one of the most powerful creatures on the planet did change his opinion as well.

Elena's gorgeous brown eyes fell on his again and he blinked when Caroline's eyes set on his as well.

"Sorry, what?" He asked. Caroline gave him the look that said he was in on her secret.

"The surprise, that's waiting for her?" Caroline asked.

"Yes! The surprise!" Damon replied. He clapped his hands together and looked back at Elena. "You're gonna love this, baby." He promised. Elena nodded.

"Well someone has to help me out of here, my legs probably went to sleep however many decades ago." She said.

"Oh! Right!" Caroline said hurriedly. She let go of Elena's hand and looked her in the eye. "Stay, here." Elena nodded and let Caroline's hand go reluctantly before Caroline hurried out of the room and came back in with a wheelchair. Elena gave Damon an incredulous look.

"I'm not paralyzed." She said.

"No, but your legs are asleep." He replied matter-of-factly. "it'll take time to wake 'em up." Elena shook her head and shrugged.

"Someone help me down." Elena surrendered, and Caroline stepped back while Damon lifted her in his arms and carried her in one swift motion to the wheelchair. "I missed that." Elena mused. Damon smiled and looked at her mouth.

"What?"

"The way you carried me. How it feels to be in your arms again." Elena put her head in the crook of Damon's neck. "I missed everything." She murmured.

"Well," He replied shakily, painfully aware of Elena's breath on his neck "you won't have to miss things much longer." He managed, and put Elena in the chair after a minute, Elena reacquainting herself with the feel of his skin. Caroline stared at them for a minute and grinned at Elena.

"You ready?" She asked in a hushed tone. Elena looked back at Damon holding the handles.

"Lead the way." Elena said. Caroline spun around and they traveled out of the room, and down a narrow hallway. Elena reached back and took one of Damon's hands in her own, and they soon stopped in a doorway. Caroline spun back around.

"Okay, this will be, amazing." She promised and Elena nodded to her. The doorway was wide enough for the wheelchair to go through, and so, slowly, Damon pushed Elena through, and Caroline stood in front of her. But without saying a word, she took a step to the right, and Elena couldn't believe what she saw.

Bonnie. Older, Bonnie, looking the age Elena thought she would've been by now. Her dark hair was long, and laid out gracefully, her eyes shut peacefully. She looked like she was sleeping.

"Did you do some kind of spell to preserve her?" Elena asked.

"Nope." Damon said. Elena looked back at him and noticed he gripped the handles tight so she wouldn't tilt the chair. "She's still kickin'." He told her with a grin.

"Bonnie's still alive?!" Elena cried, tears coming to her eyes. She hadn't let her thoughts go to Bonnie; she'd gotten good at controlling her thoughts, and memories of a dead best friend who felt like one of the only family she had left, who was always there for her and always sacrificed for her. To think of her last sacrifice was too much to bear. But as Elena felt tears come to her eyes, she grinned and laughed in joy. Bonnie was still alive. She was still here.

"I thought I'd never get to say, goodbye to her" Elena choked out, and smoothed back her hair.

"Yeah, she's still here, babe." Damon said gleefully. "You won't have to say goodbye to her yet."

* * *

Elena reached out to touch Bonnie's hand and stared at her eyes, squeezing her hand.

"How did you guys get her to take the risk this would work?" She asked.

"Well, the odds were slightly in your favor, so Bon-bon would've been alright with dying if this didn't work." Damon replied. "But we never would've found the spell if her boyfriend hadn't refused to let her go so easy."

"Bonnie has a boyfriend?" Elena wowed, thinking of Jeremy. Jeremy was long dead now. Maybe he left something behind for her. But she beamed at the sleeping woman first. "Who is it?" Damon looked awake, obviously trying to cover something up.

"What?" She asked.

"Surely me being Bonnie's boyfriend isn't the worst news she'll hear." A British voice came, and Elena looked behind her, turning the wheels to turn around, and a wild-eyed psycho came into the room. At least, that's what she thought of him before.

Enzo took a few steps closer and looked down at Elena. "But he's getting the label wrong. I'm actually Bonnie's husband." Elena's eyebrows rose.

"Husband?" She asked in disbelief. Bonnie was married. She was married, and it was to Enzo. "So Enzo, tell me." Elena said, and Enzo stood waiting for her question. "Do you love her?" She asked. He smiled and placed his hand over his heart.

"With all my heart, love." He promised. Elena nodded begrudgingly and turned to Damon. She definitely would need to talk about that with Bonnie.

"So how does this spell work, what happens?" She asked.

"It's like the sleeping spell Kai cast on you, but instead of her being alive and dying when you wake up; she falls asleep and you wake up. You can go back to sleep, and she'll wake up." He explained.

"So Bonnie's gonna be a night owl now." Elena remarked, to which Damon smirked.

"And even though you can't talk when she's awake, I can help you with talking in her mind." Caroline said.

"Yeah, I gonna need to some help with that, thanks Care." Elena replied. Caroline nodded and smiled. A moment of silence hung in the air and Damon clapped his hands softly, looking at everybody.

"Well, let's let the BFFs catch up, shall we?" He suggested, and Elena gave him a loving smile. He walked past Enzo and expected him to follow. Enzo stared down at Elena and Damon looked back for him from the doorway.

"When you get in that head, tell her I love her." Enzo said. Elena nodded and gave him a reassuring smile as he turned around and followed Damon out of the room. Caroline walked up to Elena and Elena took Bonnie's hand in hers.

"Let Bonnie into your thoughts." Caroline murmured as Elena closed her eyes.

Elena found herself at the doorway of a living room, walking in and looking around. It was a bright room; big, with big comfortable-looking chairs and a coffee table. She went to the wall that was a slide-glass window and looked out. There was a big tree and grass.

"Looks like I'm living the dream, huh?" Elena heard, and saw an older woman smiling at her, her greying hair tied back. Elena grinned and rushed at her best friend.

"Bonnie!" She greeted in relief, and they embraced, laughing.

"Hi Elena." Bonnie replied, and hugged her tighter. Elena pulled back and gripped her shoulders.

"How did this happen, what's going on?" Elena asked, trying to contain her excitement.

"I'll tell you everything in a minute, hon. But we need to get some food, huh? You haven't eaten since..."

"I fell asleep?" Elena asked. Bonnie nodded and Elena smiled affectionately at her. Bonnie led her to their kitchen and she brought a plate of cookies and a beer to the table. "Wait we're able to eat here?"

"I guess we'll find out." Bonnie replied.

As Elena took a bite out of her cookie, she felt the chocolate against her tongue, the cookie crumbled in her mouth, and she closed her eyes.

"mmmm." She decided. Bonnie laughed.

"There's your answer." Bonnie replied. Elena set the beer down on the table and when Bonnie came to sit as eye-level with her, she prepared for the questions.

"So you and Enzo, huh?" Elena asked. Bonnie's eyebrows rose.

"I thought we'd be avoiding that for a bit." She wowed.

"Well I'm high on cookies." Elena replied, warranting another laugh. "But seriously, how did that happen?" Bonnie leaned back in the chair.

"You know who Damon really is, Elena. And I started to see it when we were in that prison world. When we got back, and I ended up interacting with Enzo again, I saw that Enzo isn't all that different from him."

Somewhere between seeing how impossibly charming he was, and kissing him in a psych ward."

"A psych ward?" Elena asked. She shrugged

"He thought Damon needed help, and he wanted to get me to do it."

"But why were you in a psych ward?" Elena asked. Bonnie sighed.

"I wish I could tell you, but I don't want to burden you with bad things right now. You've just woken up." She replied. Elena smiled and hugged her.

"He says to tell you he loves you." Elena replied. Bonnie pulled back with a grin and tried to hide it.

"He never fails." Bonnie murmured.

"Hmm?"

"Enzo promised the night of our wedding that he would tell me everyday that he loves me." Bonnie replied. Elena grinned.

"You really have found your Prince Charming then, huh?"

"Seems like it." Bonnie replied.

"So tell me," Elena began, bringing her legs up to her chest and holding the neck of the bottle of beer "When was your first kiss?" She asked. Bonnie laughed and drew back her bangs.

"Okay." Bonnie replied "Enzo was teaching me how to play guitar. I was just sitting there practicing and he back. We were living in a cabin out in the woods…"

"Why were you living together?" Elena asked

"Well, this place called the Armory, it wanted me. We'd gotten mixed up with them because Lily was as untrustworthy as Damon thought, and they were connected to Enzo; Enzo kept me safe. He kept me from their radar for three years."

"Okay."

"Well Enzo came in, and he helped me get the chords right. We were so close. And we kissed. It, was amazing. So I put the guitar to the side and, that's all she wrote." Bonnie replied, getting a giggle from Elena.

"What's happened these past few decades?" Elena asked genuinely. Bonnie looked away. "I mean, Caroline hasn't told me anything, Damon just looks ecstatic I'm awake…"

"Oh, Caroline will have some things to tell you alright." Bonnie replied. Elena blinked and studied her.

"Tell me. What's happened?" Elena asked again. Bonnie laid her hand on Elena's and began to recount the story that Elena needed to hear. But one thing she wanted to tell her best friend but couldn't, was the one thing that would make Elena the most emotional. She knew Elena wanted to be a mother, she'd wanted to be one since before she was with Matt. But things got in the way, and knowing that she was a vampire made her depressed. Damon helped her regain her life, even if she couldn't create one. And even though she would've given Elena that cure, it was Damon who would be living with the result. And putting her best friend through something he'd feel he had no right to react to in a bad way, she wouldn't do that.


	2. I Won't Keep Secrets Alive

Elena's eyes opened and she looked around, finding Caroline hovering over her. She just stared at her and looked away.

"What?" Elena asked with a nervous laugh.

"Just, making sure you're okay." Caroline replied in a high tone, moving away. Elena watched her.

"Bonnie said you had something to tell me." She prompted, hoping it would make Caroline less nervous. She turned around slowly.

"Did, she tell you, what it was by any chance?" Caroline asked. Elena gave her a look and shook her head. Caroline sighed and clasped her hands, then walked back towards Elena.

"I have…I have a new boyfriend." She began.

"Stefan?" Elena asked. "Caroline, you guys slept together when you turned your humanity off, it's not like it's surprising-"

"It's not Stefan, it's not Stefan." Caroline interrupted, putting a hand up. "It's still someone you know, though. Maybe not someone you like…definitely not someone you like…but, Elena I love him, I really do. He makes me happy, and he doesn't expect anything from me, and he loves me-"

"Caroline." Elena interrupted, putting a hand up in reply "What's his name?" The guy couldn't be too bad if he made Caroline happy. All she wanted was Caroline's and Bonnie's happiness. She would make Damon's happiness, he made her own.

"It's um…Klaus." Caroline replied slowly, glancing down then back up at her. Elena blinked.

"Oh." She said. Caroline wrung her hands and studied Elena's face, who was trying to wrap her head around the news. "Caroline-"

"I know it's big, and he's done horrible things to all of us, but-"

"Caroline." Elena interceded. She sighed and looked her best friend in the eye, waiting for the verdict. "It's okay." Elena said slowly.

"Are you sure?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah. I've been sleeping for sixty years, Care. Everything's got to have changed now, and if Damon was able to, he could have done too."

"He did, I promise he did." Caroline replied, putting out a hand to reassure her.

"It's not like I wouldn't be a hypocrite for disapproving; if he makes you happy, who am I to not give you my blessing?" Elena said. Caroline rushed in and wrapped her arms around her best friend again.

"Oh my god I can't tell you how happy I am that you do." She said. Elena hugged her back and saw someone had suddenly appeared in the doorway. When they broke apart the dark figure stepped in as smiling Damon.

"Hey, how was Bon-bon?" He asked with a shy smile.

"She was fine. Seemed happy." Elena replied, looking between Caroline and Damon. "Did she and Enzo really fall in love?"

"Yup, my fault. I left her alone right at the time the bad guys were trying to get to her." Damon said sadly. Elena glared at him. "Could you be mad at me later? I've got a surprise for you."

"Did Bonnie forgive you?" Elena asked. Damon smiled reassuringly at her.

"Yes, she did. It was a very complicated part of the story which I can't physically remember all of, so until we get more people to remember it, we'll move onto the happy stuff." He replied. Elena smiled at him and he offered a hand to her. She glanced uncertainly at her legs and scooted closer to the edge of her seat, poking the air with her shoe to find the stone beneath it. Finally she did, and touched her heel to the ground. Lifting her other leg to follow it, she put weight on her foot and found she hardly wobbled as she stood before Damon. She lifted her eyes to him and he grinned, she took his hand, he leaned in and they shared another kiss. As she followed Damon out of the room, she looked back at Caroline.

"Care," Elena said, prompting Caroline to look her in the eye "I really am happy that you're with someone you love." Caroline grinned.

"If you don't mind I'm going to tell him that next time I see him." Caroline replied in a low voice, giggling. Elena grinned at her. When the two left, Caroline opened her phone and quickly texted the one person she wasn't sure her best friend would ever forgive, closed it, and grinned to herself, then took Bonnie's hand. She was a part of Bonnie's secret, and she was going to help keep it for the rest of her eternal life.

Elena took in the detail of the place Damon led her through to leave.

"Is this the cave?" She asked. The place where so much magic had gone in and out; where they'd seen the names of the Originals written in their native language on the wall.

"Yup." Damon replied, turning back to her and letting her hand go, seeing she was enamored with her surroundings.

"Why didn't you just leave me in the crypt?" She asked. Bonnie had told her everything, but she needed to hear it from Damon's perspective.

"Lily wouldn't let me. Her family of witch-vampires that Kai helped bring over to the other side wanted to stay, I wanted them to leave so I killed one of her new sons. Lily cared a lot more about his well-being than about mine and I wouldn't admit to doing away with the guy so she...had a couple of her family siphon the magic from your crypt, took you." Damon replied. Elena studied him and he sighed. "Despite Lily using you as a pawn, I forgave her. After she died." She pulled him into her arms and closed her eyes, caressing his back slowly. Damon wrapped his arms around her as well, burying his face in her neck.

"I'm sorry your mom let you down, Damon." Elena replied. "How long did it take you to forgive her?"

"Well, that involves Stefan and I hunting down Lily's boyfriend and trying to kill him. He ended up putting us the same place he'd been for the past century, at least, but Bon probably told you about the huntress and whatnot."

"Julian put you in the phoenix stone, Bonnie got you out, but you thought you weren't out and tried to reset everything, so you tried to kill everybody in the room." Elena said. Damon nodded and stared at her nervously. She gave him a look. "Damon, it was sixty years ago. If they've forgiven you it doesn't matter anymore."


	3. Let's See How Far We've Come

Elena walked into the house, Damon closed the door behind her. She looked from him, to Matt, to Bonnie, Enzo, Caroline...Klaus was in the corner with his hands behind his back.

"What's going on?" She asked. Matt stared at her sadly and Enzo left the room. She looked after him.

"You remember we want to tell you a secret?" Bonnie asked. She nodded. "This is the secret."


End file.
